Cornell Lab eNews – Great Backyard Bird Count

February 27, 2009

Great Backyard Bird Count Breaks All-Time Record

With two days left to go for data entry, participants have
submitted 90,505 checklists, smashing the all-time GBBC record. In
the race for towns submitting the most checklists, Mentor, Ohio,
leads with 259 checklists ahead of second-ranked Charlotte, North
Carolina. Visit the GBBC website to see top-10 species lists, maps, and images of some of the 609 species reported so far.

Snow Goose Success Story

In this year’s Great Backyard Bird Count, Snow Geese were the
most numerous species counted. Did you know that Snow Goose
populations were so threatened that in 1916, hunting them was
banned in the United States? Since then, their populations have
increased dramatically, and hunting began again in 1975 without
slowing their population growth.

Can You Hear the Difference between the Calls of
Snow Geese and Canada Geese?

Have You Ever Heard THIS Bird Sound?

Manx Shearwaters are seabirds that dive for fish in areas as
far as 600 miles from their nesting burrows! Listen to the
“electric” sounds of these “wailers, screechers, and screamers”
from the Cornell Lab’s Macaulay Library archive in this story fromNPR’s Sounds Wild.

Act Fast for a Great Offer with Project FeederWatch

Join Project FeederWatch, a meaningful project that enables you
to learn more about your feeder birds and contribute your
observations to science. Sign up by February 28 for the remainder
of this season and get next season free! The $15 fee ($12 for Lab
members) helps cover the costs of materials, including a bird-ID
poster. Learn more.